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Zooble found themselves unable to sleep. They were getting nagged by their own thoughts for hours now, and it’s been getting harder and harder to keep them quiet. After 2 more hours of this, they got up to go outside. They felt the need to get some fresh air before trying to sleep again. They stepped outside of the tent and into the grounds. They looked up at the sky and saw the moon staring back at them. They waved, the moon nodded.
Zooble started walking towards the new forest area Kinger made. When he first implanted it, it was a glitchy, buggy pile of mess. But now, thanks to Caine, it became a normal forest to take a nice stroll in. As Zooble entered the forest, they couldn’t help but appreciate how real the trees looked and felt. Kinger was a great guy, he always helped the humans who were trapped here, always came up with solutions for their problems, the digital circus has been feeling a lot more like a home than a cage now. If it wasn’t for him, all of them would’ve gone crazy. Even with Pomni, the newest human, Zooble thinks she adapted here a lot quicker than they thought she would. Even Caine was one of Kinger’s creations. However Zooble thinks Caine tries way too hard to please them and his solutions come up as tone deaf. Zooble thinks that after fixing the forest, Caine got so much into his ego, he’s been talking about how well the forest is and how he left no bugs in it. He can be an AI but that wasn’t an excuse for Zooble, especially after he gave them a “Zooble Box”.
Zooble stopped when a ladybug landed on their hand. They rubbed their thumb against it for second before it flew away. Their eyes followed the bug but that caused them to see something in the corner of their eyes. A light, faint but noticeable. Zooble walked towards the light, bumping into a few trees before reaching where that light was. A clearing.
The light was actually a transparent orb, one with eyes and a mouth. It hones looked more like a shiny bubble to Zooble, but maybe it looked shiny because it was nighttime.
~~~~~
“Caine?”
Zooble called out. He’s been taking too long to look for any other bugs in the forest. Kinger’s gotten worried and the other’s are questioning where the hell he is. Then they see Caine’s figure from far away.
“Caine what the hell were you doing for so long? It’s been almost an hour and you’re just-“
Then they stopped, seeing how Caine is in a sitting position, his firm hunched forward.
“Caine? What are you-?”
“Everything’s fine Zooble!! Just go back to Kinger and the others! I’ll be right there!!”
“No! We waited for too long, we won’t wait another hour!”
“Zooble stay-!!”
“What’s that? Are you hiding something now?!”
“Don’t-“
“What’s up with you?! Why are you-“
“WAIT!!!!”
Before Zooble could even see what Caine was holding, the world glitches for a second.
~~~~~
Caine stood in front of the bubble. His eyes unblinking, not breaking eye contact with the creature.
“I only came here to talk to moon. I don’t know why I walked this way. I didn’t want to walk this way…”
Zooble looked at Caine before looking back at the weird bubble.
“Zooble you shouldn’t be here.”
“Caine just stop it! What’s going on?! What is that thing and why are you acting like this?!”
Caine takes a shaky breath but doesn’t look at Zooble.
“It’s a virus. It won’t go away. No matter what I do or say it’s still here!”
“Okay? Just tell Kinger and he’ll fix it. If you’re too much of a [#?!] I’ll let him know instead-“
“No! Kinger can’t know! Never!”
“Why?”
“Because I can fix it! I-I just need more time! I can solve any problem! That’s my whole thing! I-If I can’t fix something like this…”
Zooble puts a hand in Caine’s shoulder.
“Caine, you’re not the fixer of everything. Who cares if you can’t take care of a virus?”
“I…I care! Because it wants me to get rid of it!”
“It talks?”
“No- I-…I can feel it. I can feel it speaking to me. I can feel it in me, it wants to get erased.”
Zooble shook their head in disbelief.
“Caine are you hearing yourself?! I mean, seriously! It’s just a virus!! Worst of all, your concern isn’t ‘What if it does something bad’, it’s ‘What if someone finds me like this’?!”
“Like you…?”
Zooble goes silent after hearing that. Why was Caine so afraid of being unable to fix something? It all felt overdramatic to Zooble. Then a sob broke the silence, then another, and another, until Caine starts full on sobbing. Zooble’s face becomes more alarmed.
“Caine, hey, don’t-don’t cry. Why are-please don’t..”
“What am I going to do?! What if Kinger sees this?! What if everyone does?! I’m going to be reset!”
Zooble’s face softens as Caine continues to cry. Zooble thinks about this more. Yes, Caine’s job is to fix bugs and glitches Kinger couldn’t. So what would happen if something like this catches the others’s attention? According to Caine, it was something he feared.
Zooble took a sharp breath and walks towards the bubble. They look at it for a second before grabbing it and walking away.
“Wha- Zooble-?!”
“We’re going go hide this somewhere.”
“Zooble wait!!”
“We’re gonna put this somewhere no one would find it.”
“Zooble no! No! Give me more time!”
“No. You had enough time given to you. And since you don’t wanna tell this to Kinger, I’m taking matters into my own hands.”
“What are you going to do?! Where are you going to hide it?!”
“In my Zooble Box. Only I can open it remember? You made sure no one else could.”
“But…”
“What other option do we have Caine?! Have yourself go crazy because of nothing?!”
“It’s not nothing!”
“I see you at dusk Caine. You showed me your not so stellar efforts to help me, so let me repay you. Will you accept that?”
Caine fidgets with his fingers.
“Can we keep this between us? A secret?”
“Sure. No one else will know. I’m going to my room with this…”
“Bubble.”
“Yeah. And once it’s in the box, it’ll stay there. And we’ll laugh about this whole thing while drinking stupid sauce. Okay?”
“Okay…thank you. Good night Zooble.”
“Good night Caine.”